Texts show Pistorius' creepy side

Most of the text messages between Oscar Pistorius and the girlfriend he would shoot to death were loving and affectionate.

They called each other pet names. They flirted. They exuded romance and longing.

"Truth is, i miss you," Reeva Steenkamp wrote in January of 2013, to her boyfriend of several months. Pistorius replied: "I'm missing you so, so much!"

Of course, it's the other texts, the ones in which Steenkamp confesses she's sometimes scared of Pistorius and struggles to please him, that tell a more troubling tale. And people who work with victims of domestic violence say they reveal a classic story of control and abuse — and a possible tragedy waiting to happen.

"Some of these texts are a red flag," said Amarely Gutierrez, director of domestic violence services for the YWCA. "Some of these are very similar to ones we've seen, or put out in our training as warnings for young girls."

The prosecution in the murder trial of the South African sprinter rested Tuesday, in a riveting case that reminds us of the darkness that can lurk behind a public veneer of charm, accomplishment and respectability.

The double amputee known admiringly as the Blade Runner is accused of killing his model girlfriend after an argument last year on Valentine's Day. Pistorius has pleaded not guilty, claiming he believed his girlfriend was an intruder when he fired four shots into a locked bathroom door at his Pretoria home.

(By the way — why would a woman lock a bathroom door when her boyfriend is right outside, unless she's afraid of something, or someone?)

Earlier this week, the prosecution introduced text messages from Steenkamp's mobile phone in which she complained about Pistorius' temper.

"You have picked on me excessively ... I do everything to make you happy and you do everything to throw tantrums," began one message. "I'm scared of you sometimes and how you snap at me and of how you will react to me."

Three weeks later, Steenkamp was fatally shot while cowering in the bathroom. And while her voice from the grave provides no evidence that Pistorius murdered her, it offers a disturbingly familiar glimpse into a man seeking to control and dominate his partner.

"I'm not at all surprised," Gutierrez said yesterday. "This usually starts in subtle ways, with little things. Then there's a huge control factor about it."

The creep factor in these messages is high. They indicate that Pistorius accused his girlfriend of flirting with another man, caused a scene and demanded they leave a party early, tried to control even minor habits and got enraged at the slightest provocation.

"I get snapped at and told my accents and voices are annoying," Steenkamp wrote. "I touch your neck to show u I care and you tell me to stop. Stop chewing gum, Do this don't do that."

For Gutierrez, the texts show that Steenkamp is desperate to appease Pistorius but will soon be victimized, either emotionally or physically.

"He's telling her what he wants and doesn't want from her," Gutierrez noted. "And she's doing everything to make him happy. She doesn't want to rock the boat, because something negative comes from that. I would say, wow, yes, he's your typical abuser."

The former Olympian who once enjoyed global adoration has taken Steenkamp's death hard. In court, he's cried, blocked his ears, gagged and vomited into a bucket.

Gutierrez isn't surprised by that behavior, either.

"A lot of abusers feel intense guilt," she said. "But it's actually not about the killing. It's about getting caught, and feeling bad about how they're perceived and how everyone knows what they did."